Nothing Gold Can Stay
by stagetechgurl
Summary: Buffy's New Enemy used to be a slayer, Now she just kills them.- Cha[ter 2 up
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: Not mine, I'm just borrowing. The title is from a Frost Poem. Please read and review- more will be posted as soon as it is written.   
Nature's first green is gold,  
Her hardest hue to hold.  
Her early leaf's a flower;  
But only so an hour.  
Then leaf subsides to leaf.  
So Eden sank to grief,  
So dawn comes down to day.  
Nothing gold can stay.  
  
Robert Frost  
  
Somewhere in Arkansas in the early 1800's  
  
Running Bird held her breath for a moment. She could feel it, moving closer to her staying just out of sight in the trees. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes. The wind blew her long black hair across her face. From somewhere to her left she heard the rustle of leaves, and the cry of a raven as it protested some disturbance and hurriedly flew away. A smile spread across Running Bird's lips. Her nut brown eyes opened. Quiet as a field mouse, but swift as the raven, Running Bird sprinted towards her prey. She reached the edge of a lake and stopped. She listened again but could hear nothing. Her senses told her something was wrong so she raised her sharp stake and looked quickly about. But as she scanned the woods around her with her sharp eyes she saw nothing. After waiting a moment more she concluded that the monster had evaded her and turned to untie the boat that would carry her back to her village. As she bent to do so, the monster dropped behind her. It grabbed her and breathed in the smell of her hair. The vampire spoke words in a language she did not understand. He reached around and kissed her, forcing his tongue into her mouth and caressing the roof of her mouth. There was a metallic taste to it. As she realized it was the vampire's own blood flowing from self inflicted bites on his lip, Running Bird fought against him, but terror had invaded her calm mind and has drainer her strength. As the teeth punctured her neck and the intense pressure of her blood being drained, Running Bird screamed then succumbed to the darkness that welcomed her.  
  
br  
Sunnydale 2002  
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Buffy let out a grunt of surprise and frustration as she landed hard on her rump. The vampire she had been fighting laughed, "Five minutes out of the grave and I've already knocked the Slayer down. This is fun. As he took what was supposed to be a menacing step towards the prone slayer- the vampire exploded into a cloud of dust. In his place stood Spike, looking exactly like a puppy who thought he had just pleased his master. His smile faded when he reached down to help Buffy up but was slapped away instead.  
Buffy glared at Spike as she heaved herself up and dusted off her stylish yet affordable slacks. "How many times do I need to tell you Spike, I don't need your help. I was doing perfectly fine on my own. Don't you have anything better to do than follow me around like, well like a stray dog?"  
Spike snarled, "Some thanks I get Slayer, for saving you work- even if I didn't save your life. As for something better to do- I could think of a few things." Spike pushed Buffy against a monument and began to ravage her mouth. After an instant of resistance Buffy returned the kiss and the two sank to the ground.  
From her vantage point in a tree a few yards away, Running Bird smiled. ~This is an interesting development. A slayer who . . .hmmm is intimate with a vampire. What a disgrace. But perhaps useful information.~ Running Bird watched only a moment more, then seeing that clothing was beginning to be discarded by the lovers, she leapt from the tree and ran from the graveyard. 


	2. Chapter 2

Spike crept back to his dreary crypt at dawn. He closed the heavy wood door as the first rays of sunlight scorched his pale skin. Thoughts of his golden goddess ran threw his head as he lay climbed down the ladder into his dudgeon below. Buffy reminded him of sunrise. The way her hair spread across his chest when she slept in his arms was the only sun he would ever see. This only bothered him because it meant that he could never sit with her on some picturesque hillside holding her hand and watching the sunrise after a night of loving. The fact that he longed for this disgusted him. "Bloody hell" Spike collapsed into his bed and closed his eyes.   
As soon as he did, Spike realized something was wrong. Something else was in the room with him. As he opened his eyes he found a dark beauty looking down at him. Her eyes were a deep brown like fertile soil, ready to be tilled. Her skin was the color of well worked leather, and her hair was as black as a raven. It was restrained in a single braid that, at the moment, was falling across her shoulder and brushing his chest. She held a knife in her hand and its point was poised above Spike's heart. His hands raised to push the woman off, but she shifted so that her knee was pressing into his gut. "Moving would not be wise Gitli, better to stay still and I will leave you alive, or at least I will not leave you a pile of dust." The woman smiled at her joke.   
Spike considered for a moment and the woman decided to dig her knee cruelly into his stomach. "Bloody Hell woman, I'm not moving. What do you want with me? Cause I can tell you if its loving your wanting there are easier ways to go about it."  
  
The woman allowed her knee to dig into Spike for a moment longer before standing "I want no pleasure from you gadaha adv siqua. I want you to send a message to the Golden One. I want you to tell her that I have information she may be interested in."   
Spike pondered for a moment. "Where can she find you if she's interested?"  
"I will find her." With that the woman turned, her braid flying out behind her like a whip. Then she was gone and Spike was left alone, except for the painful bruise already forming on his gut.  
"Cant a guy get a few hours peace?" There was no one to answer him but the spiders and his own echo. Spike shook his head and searched for a fresh shirt. There was still a couple of hours before Buffy would leave for work, so he pulled his trusty blanket over his head and walked out the door.  
Buffy Summers was exhausted. It had been a rough night. First the demon that spit disgusting purple juice that smelled like bananas and coffee and dirty gym socks all rolled into one. Then there was the vampire that was allergic to Buffy's perfume and sneezed throughout the entire fight. Of course to top it all off there was the fresh vamp that gloated over knocking her down. She didn't even get the satisfaction of staking that one. Spike did it for her. Spike. . . Buffy could not figure out what to do about him. He could make her knees go weak, as she sang a couple of weeks ago, he made her feel alive. But he was an evil vamp who only hesitated in killing her and her friends because of a chip in his head. The smell of coffee invaded her reverie Buffy decided to put off debating the Spike issue till after her caffeine fix. However just as she brought the cup of warm brown energy to her lips, a smoking mass burst thru her door and slammed into her. Luckily the majority of the hot coffee landed on Spike, who just yelped louder.   
"Spike! What the hell do you think you're doing. Get off me." Buffy pushed against Spike but he just grinned and pined her to the ground with his hips.  
"You didn't mind a few hours ago luv." Buffy responded with a knee to the groin. Spike groaned and rolled off. "A few more hits like that luv and there will be no more tumbles in the graveyard."  
"Break my heart Spike. Now get off me and get out." Buffy managed to push Spike off of her and stood up. She walked to the door and held it open.  
"Now Slayer no need to go rushing me off. I have a message for you. From a rather interesting lady. Came to my crypt and climbed in my bed. Not a bad way to deliver a message if you ask me. She was a pretty doll."  
"Just tell me the message and get. . .she was in your bed?" Buffy turned to glare at Spike  
"Now luv, don't get jealous, we didn't do the nasty if that's what you're worried about."  
"Oh please Spike I could care less what, or who you do in your spare time."  
Spike walked over and ran a hand down the side of Buffy's face and lightly teased her neck with his finger tips. Buffy leaned her head back and stifled a moan. Spike licked his lips and leaned his head to whisper in Buffy's ear. "Oh I can see how much you don't care luv. And dun worry she was pretty but not my type. To . . .stiff"  
Buffy purred as Spike gently kissed her neck. Then she heard footsteps on the stairs and pushed Spike away. He laughed as Dawn skipped into the kitchen. "Hi Buff. Hi Spike. Good night slaying."  
"Fine Dawn. Aren't you going to be late for school?" Buffy hastily tried to compose herself, much to Spike's amusement.  
"Nope. Xander's gonna pick me up any minute." At that exact moment the door bell rang. Dawn grabbed her back pack from the counter and hugged Buffy goodbye. With a wave to Spike she bounded out of the kitchen. "That's him. See ya later."  
Buffy watched her leave. "Man what I wouldn't give for her energy in the morning."  
"I guess I wore you out ehe slayer." Spike's face eased into a smug look and he folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the refrigerator.  
  
"Oh please Spike. Enough with the dirty comments. What's this message you have for me?" Buffy pushed Spike away from the door, inadvertently into a ray of sunlight from the window.  
  
"Ouch. Careful luv- that's deadly stuff"   
  
"If you don't tell me what the message is I'll push you out in the sun completely and just end this frustration." Buffy reached to open the door, but Spike stopped her.  
  
"Alright luv. It was a real Tan doll, with a long braid. She's a native ya know. The ones that were here before you bloody Americans took over? Well all she said is she had some information you might be interested in. I asked her where we could find her and she said she would find you. Oh yea and she has wicked sharp knees." Spike grimaced and rubber his bruised abdomen.  
  
"Okay I'm not going to give you the pleasure of responding to the comment about her sharp knees. So a Indian girl comes and tells you to tell me she has information? Fine. When she decides to contact me herself I will deal with it, right now I have to get ready for work, or I'll be late. I'm going to go take a shower, and before you ask- no I don't want company." Spike's face fell slightly. "When I get back down here Spike you better be gone understood?" Without waiting for an answer Buffy turned and practically ran upstairs.  
Spike watched her go. Shaking his head he grabbed his blanket and wrapped it around himself. "Good Grief. You do the girl a favor and she kicks you out into the bright sunlight. Why do I put up with this? Oh yea because I'm a neutered vampire in love with the slayer. Oh well maybe now a bloke can get a nap in." Taking a deep and unnecessary breath Spike opened the door and ran to the nearest manhole cover.  
Translations from Cherokee :  
Gitli: dog  
gadaha adv siqua: Dirty Pig 


End file.
